1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a print processing method, and a charging control system, which are applicable to charging processing performed according to a result of print processing of, for example, a copying machine, a printer, or a multifunction peripheral.
2. Description of the Related Art
A coin vendor is conventionally available for performing charging management according to a print result of an image forming apparatus, such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral. The coin vendor allows a user to deposit a desired amount of money, and at timing the printer completes printing of one page, the coin vendor subtracts a fee for each page from the deposited amount of money.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-216395, a personal computer (PC) can operate as a charging system that controls charging information and integrally manages charging fees of a plurality of multifunction peripherals.
According to a method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-216395, a user previously reserves a required number of sheets as part of a job input operation in order to prevent the print processing from stopping due to an excessive amount of charge exceeding the limit.
Furthermore, as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-152139, it is useful to manage the number of sheets that a user can use for printing. For example, if the print number requested by a user (i.e., the number of sheets to be used for an input job) is below an upper limit, the requested print number for the input job is reserved as a reservation count value and then the printer can start printing.
However, according to a system requiring a user to reserve a sheet number for an input print job, the printer cannot start printing until a charging control server accepts reservation of the requested sheet number for the input print job. The reservation sheet number to be charged can be obtained when the printer performs rasterization processing for the input print job.
A printer, if configured to perform printing without any charging control, can start printing during rasterization processing of a job. However, according to a system requiring a user to reserve an output sheet number of an input print job and configured to perform a charging management according to the print result, a user cannot start printing if reservation for the output sheet number is not yet completed. Accordingly, there is a long time lag before the printer actually starts printing of a first page.